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Apple Staff Complain About Plans for Return to Office Work in Letter to Tim Cook
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What it comes down to for me is that I work very well from home. I work in IT and my job has no dependency on physically being in an office. I don’t miss the commute each day one bit. I am every bit as productive as I was pre-COVID.
My employer is embracing the WFH culture that has developed over the last year. I think more should do the same.
It seems there are those in corporate America that want to crush one of the few positive things to come out of the past year. Going back to the ‘old norm’ with all the unnecessary commuting seems like a step backwards IMO. Have we learned nothing?
My days of going into an office everyday are done.
My employer is embracing the WFH culture that has developed over the last year. I think more should do the same.
It seems there are those in corporate America that want to crush one of the few positive things to come out of the past year. Going back to the ‘old norm’ with all the unnecessary commuting seems like a step backwards IMO. Have we learned nothing?
My days of going into an office everyday are done.
It creates inclusiveness for those who wanna stay home.
You are a tool for the company that provides utility to the company and you provide no other function. Any thoughts you think about your value other than to maximize shareholder value from your function is simply a mirage of what Apple tries to plant in your head. Underneath all the so-called perks you're still a gofer who will do as you're told or be jettisoned.
Remote working is a problem for middle management types, because it means they need to have the slightest clue what the **** the actual workers are doing, to be able to have some sense of whether they're meeting goals, making progress etc.
In an office situation the presence of bums on seats is a fine enough metric for them to use.
I say middle management. I shouldn't be so specific I guess. I've had complaints passed on from CEOs "you need to be in the office when he (the CEO) is".
Meanwhile in remote working for close to a decade and a half, literally the only time anyone cares what time I start or stop working, is on the odd occasion we need to have a real time discussion.
I’m with you in that the truth is likely somewhere in the middle. The employees impacted aren’t names we’d all recognize, as they wouldn’t negotiate in this fashion, but they’re also not people for which there are 150-200 applicants available to take their jobs of equal or better skill set. These are employees who have been brought to Apple who are desired by competitors. I’m sure Apple loses employees at this level from time to time, but it’s not in Apple’s best interest to clear the slate clean because this issue isn’t going away.
Remote work is here to stay. My own employment was anti-telework for years. If staff members teleworked once a month it would be a notable event because of an extreme situation. After Covid, the telework/on-site ratio is going to be 50/50, so a day better than what Apple offered. Telework works, it’s going to be offered by major employers, so if a competitor to Apple offers a better package and Apple fires anyway who isn’t in the office three days a week, it will be an issue for Apple, especially since it’s a company that literally invented FaceTime.
The pandemic has forced many to innovate to the new normal. There’s actually no hint that the pandemic will be “gone.” So trying to force “go back” to the “old normal” just because you prefer it doesn’t change the reality of the new normal.
I agree that there are specific things that might only be doable face to face. But imo reality is that the new normal is here to stay. The more we try to transition back to the old days, the harder imo the company would adapt for the future. For a tech company as big as Apple, imo they should be leveraging tech as much as they can, instead of relying on old habits.
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You’re lucky. Lucky your pandemic productivity was as good as your pre-pandemic productivity. Lucky you are not going back to the office. I’d be surprised if every manager agreed that pandemic productivity was the same or better. Tim certainly doesn’t agree.
Without seeing the distribution the term median means little. It can be either a single value or a value that represents a range.
I'm not sure who or why the term was first used to describe earnings but I'm not sure it's the best use and makes me think things are being hidden.
I'm still surprised that other people were expecting last-minute ad-hoc "holy **** how do I do this" responses to having to work in a different location would just go smoothly.
It's essentially like having a scooter, and living in a city apartment... then some event outside our control means everyone from the city has to temporarily migrate to "the country". After a while the city is 'safe' again, but some people say they want to stay in the country.
The claims about productivity losses in the last ~12 months are like saying "how can you possibly live in the country, you only have a scooter and your moccasins will get ruined in the mud.".
Yeah no ****, remote working with zero preparation probably sucks donkey balls. Not really that different than if you turn up in an office to work, and there's no equipment for you, no desk for you to use, etc.
There's no reason to assume anything about who leaked it, really. The article literally says the letter was circulated.
We have literally no idea who saw it at the time, or what their motive was in 'leaking' it.
No, you don't. But when you state things as a fact, you do.
You are of course entitled to an opinion - opinions are like *******s, we all have them.
But we both know that I didn't quote your message for having an opinion. You stated something as a fact, so I asked you to identify the source of said fact.
It’s empowering because you’re giving the employee a choice to work where they feel they are the most productive.
it’s inclusive because you’re now opening up these jobs to anyone in the world. Previously, if you wanted to work for Apple, you’d need to live in the Bay Area or be willing to move.
you can call geographic location just a “barrier to entry” that can be moved, but for many it’s not realistic. I’ve got 2 young kids, live out East, and there is no way I could convince my wife to uproot our family and move to California. Is my wife a barrier to entry that I should remove as well?
Wait. Based on this logic you think women and minorities are entitled for asking for equal pay and equal opportunities?
It’s not entitlement. Employees have rights and as time passes they gain more and more of them. The pandemic justifies these changes. It’s pretty archaic to think that those in power can take as much as they did and then beg for the power back.
As long as the company are on top of ensuring safe measures are in place, there no reason why employees can’t return to work. You’re right the pandemic isn’t going away and businesses need to survive with employees willing to put the business first at times. Sure working from home is here to stay, but not full time.
I would certainly entertain an alternative theory. This isn't a court of law. Backing of claims isn't entirely necessary. It's a conversation. What do you believe happened? How did the Verge get the letter?
It's not about how productive a worker is.
In a company like Apple, it's about how productive a worker makes other employees who aren't even working on the same project (e.g. never in the same organized meeting). It may also be about idiotic ideas that no smart person would ever mention over a live microphone and on camera (stupid ideas which sometime fail in the upward direction). The spaceship was designed to make that more likely.
In any case, Apple not only has to compete for talent with other tech companies (and whatever WFH policies they converge upon) for chip designers and software architects, etc. Apple has to stay innovative enough to compete with China and the rest of the world and the work ethic in those countries.
It isn't a court of law, but backing of claims most definitely is necessary.
I have no idea - that's why I'm not making claims about what happened, as statements of fact. That was the whole point.
Unfortunately that’s statistic doesn’t apply to everybody working remotely. My department were continuously productive throughout the pandemic but we had major problems with some going missing during the day and blaming ‘the internet’ or the ‘server’ etc.
The way around all this is to put everybody working remotely on performance review to maintain a watchful eye on employees output IMO.
From the letter... Bolding done by me...
"For Inclusion and Diversity to work, we have to recognize how different we all are, and with those differences, come different needs and different ways to thrive. We feel that Apple has both the responsibility to recognize these differences, as well as the capability to fully embrace them."
On first reading it appears that Tim's focus and words are coming back to bite him in the ass. On second reading it is hard to take these statements seriously at all. I am sure that a substantial number of their peers are just shaking their heads. Words fail me...
"For Inclusion and Diversity to work, we have to recognize how different we all are, and with those differences, come different needs and different ways to thrive. We feel that Apple has both the responsibility to recognize these differences, as well as the capability to fully embrace them."
On first reading it appears that Tim's focus and words are coming back to bite him in the ass. On second reading it is hard to take these statements seriously at all. I am sure that a substantial number of their peers are just shaking their heads. Words fail me...
Shouldn't a manager be doing this.. anyway? What else is their job if not to monitor how their underlings are performing, regardless of the scenario.
Last time I worked in an office, there were still plenty of ways to abscond from doing any productive work, without actually leaving the office.
I disagree. In spite of the skepticism, companies can elect to take care of their employees. Obviously there is a mutual benefit, but at the same time companies are not obligated to do so.
Indeed and what I suggested was a technique used by managers to observe the output of their staff. Performance, targets and output should be monitored anyway, but when staff are simply a face on a screen and work is just digital content, different methods need to be employed.
My company had all office staff working from home from March to December last year. Not all made it through unfortunately as the novelty of being at home was a bit much for some. A lot of staff got very demanding too and used the pandemic as an excuse to go missing for 2 hours at a time to go exercising during the working day lol. Adding your colleagues and boss to your Strava isn’t always the best idea lol.